“When one is in a hole, it is imperative to stop digging. If we are to win our freedom, surely it will not be done with one brother digging the grave of another.“
Dr. Mona El-Farra knows what she’s talking about.
Today’s winning post is dated June 14, 2008 and it is called Quest For Freedom. Don’t expect fluff and flowers. The author has been explaining to the blog world for quite some time. Listen to the voice of one woman all the way back from 2006 as recorded on her blog From Gaza, with Love. “Sitting in my office, at the red crescent society for Gaza Strip, being unable to focus on what a im doing, the sound of the artillery shelling is too loud, it is so loud and makes me think all the time, what is the casualty outcome??When and where??”… and then this…“I could not sleep, shooting continued all through the night, so continuous and close to my building that my daughter was frightened. We both chose to sleep on the floor of my bedroom. I hardly slept.”
Things have not changed. Dr. Mona El-Farra is a physician, human rights activist, and citizen of Palestine — who writes a blog. Not just any ole’ blog. She pens her thoughts from The Occupied Gaza Strip by the Mediterranean Sea. Conditions in her part of the world make 
my excuses for not posting today laughable at best. Her topics range from women and health issues to human rights to the everyday violence she sees all around. But there is no sensationalism here. Just the truth.
my excuses for not posting today laughable at best. Her topics range from women and health issues to human rights to the everyday violence she sees all around. But there is no sensationalism here. Just the truth.
Today, the doctor wants to tell me about a choice she had to make and why she made it. She also needs to say something else. She needs to tell me — anybody — that she is not a number, that she is still alive and that her world and her people just want to live in peace. Sitting by a seaside window watching her beloved sea and the fishing boats, she just as quickly sees it all wash away by the gunboat’s warning fires — all reminders to Mona that her moments of peace by the water are fleeting. “Hearing about Gaza is much different than living in Gaza,” writes Dr. El-Farra.
So, she takes us on a tour of her world, a very personal tour, apologizing all the while for not posting and keeping us informed. With 10 litres of petrol and seemingly a million choices in her occupied land, she goes to.…no. I won’t tell you.
As riveting as this post is, I could not stop reading just one and spent some time getting to know her and the life she has bravely lived for years. She described her world in one post as living in a “big prison like Gaza.” Imagine viewing your life as a prisoner. And why does Mona write? Let her tell you. “I write to keep the link between myself and the outside world , the normal natural world ‚with a deep feeling that I am like all of us in Gaza , we don’t belong to this world any more.…..it was not nice of me, not to update my blog, and to keep you informed about my life in Gaza.” In a recent interview she expressed how her writing helps her feel that she is not alone. Most of us know that feeling. Few know it as well as Dr. El-Farra.
If anyone has an excuse for not posting today, it’s the Palestinian doctor. Her fascinating blog is a must read. We are honored to recognize her post Quest For Freedom as The Rising Blogger’s Post of The Day.
Review written by MIMI LENOX.
{ 3 comments }
A powerful post. I learned some things.
Mimi-
Great post. It makes us realize all that is at stake…
i am pleased and hnoured ,for nomonation my latest post for the best post of the month award at your site , for me i am glad that i managed to raise the voice of the voiceless ,via my writings , i write on behalf of thousands of women , men and children , whom i meet everyday during my work and activism , thier suffering in everyday life while searching for freedom .searching for living in peace and dignity ,
thanks again
yours sinceely
Mona ElFarra
iam a mother , physician and human rights activist , i also spent most of my life in palestine , was born and bread in Khanyunis south of the Gaza strip , i love country side, my big schock but also was big motivation for me to write , to write was when the Israeli occupation forces , demolished my parents home and at he same times , razed our family land and uprooted thousands of fruitfull and old trees at that day , for 26 families ,who became homeless ,during my work i realise how the injustice and war affects the women and children badly .
i am working to promot health in my country , and also to give children more space and chance to ventilate at diffrent kids club , i helped in founding some of it , where the children can play , dance read and paint learn english and IT , and also keep the palestinian traditions alive , by learnig to dance the DABKA , the palestinian foloklore dance
iam working for peace that is based on justice .
with all my love
Mona ElFarra
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